• Report states that Parliament was kept in the dark" on "astronomical" cost overruns
  
• Cost to taxpayers more than eleven times the original 1995 estimate of $85 Million

WINNIPEG: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today responded to the Report of the Auditor General, Sheila Fraser, tabled in Parliament today. The Report states that the Department of Justice failed to provide Parliament with complete and accurate information about the growing costs of the Canadian Firearms Program, as the price tag ballooned upwards to $1 billion.

According to the federal Department of Justice, implementing the Program will cost more than $1 billion by 2004-05. When the program was introduced in 1995, the Department of Justice told Parliament that the program would cost taxpayers about $2 million after cost recovery from license and registration fees. The Department now estimates that by 2004-05 the cost will be well over $1 billion, and only about $140 million in fees will have been collected.

"How many billion dollar boondoggles can the federal government come up with " asked CTF- Manitoba director Adrienne Batra. "The Canadian Firearms Registry took dead aim at the wallets of Canadian taxpayers and it is time this government take action to ensure that departments aren't trigger happy with cost overruns," stated Batra.

"This latest example of obscuring costs, sets a very dangerous precedent. No department should be permitted to hide program costs from Parliament. When challenges arise and costs increase, it is Parliament that must have the final say. This government must act to guarantee cost overruns, like those found in the Firearms Registry, are not hidden from Parliament and from Canadians," continued Batra.

"It is disconcerting that such a high profile initiative could exceed its original budget by a margin greater than eleven times its original estimate, without some additional parliamentary scrutiny." "Does the example of the firearms registry set the standard for future policies " asked Batra.